| SPOTLIGHT |
Satnam Virdi reviews recent evelopments in relation to grammar schools, including the Government's latest proposals.
History of Grammar Schools
They have existed since at least the 16th century. They originally taught only Latin Grammar, but, in time, “modernised” to encompass Ancient Greek. Eventually, they deigned to teach English and Maths, and other contemporary subjects.
But modern grammars date from the tri-partite state-funded system established by the 1944 Education Act 1944 of:
In 1965, Harold Wilson’s Labour Government ordered local authorities to start to phase out grammar schools and secondary moderns. Education Secretary Anthony Crosland supposedly said: "If it's the last thing I do, I'm going to destroy every [expletive] grammar school in England”. This supposedly egalitarian trend reached its apogee, or nadir if you prefer, in James Callaghan’s Education Act 1976 which gave powers to the Secretary of State to order “complete reorganisation” on comprehensive lines. My own experience from that period shows how fraught and contentious this grammar school debate was.
Case study from that time
You may recall the famous film/musical, Bend It like Beckham. It was based and filmed in Hounslow, right under the Heathrow flightpaths. I sat the last Hounslow Council organised 11+ in 1976. On starting at Isleworth Grammar School in September 1977, my new head handed out a petition for our parents to sign to help keep grammar school status. Isleworth Grammar had been around in one guise or the other since 1630.
The local Labour Council and Secretary of State Shirley Williams refused the petition. Within three years of me starting, the school had fully merged with the local boys’ Secondary Modern to become a comprehensive, Isleworth and Syon.
In 2003 the school was designated a Specialist Sports College, securing additional funding to further develop the sports provision at school. In 2012, one of its refugee former pupils, Mo Farah, who it first nurtured, won double Olympic Gold for the UK in the 5000 and 10000 meters, as he did again in 2016. The school is now a successful Academy. So perhaps Dame Shirley Williams was very prescient, after all!
Margaret Thatcher removed the compulsion to reorganise in 1979 (although grammar schools continued to close during her tenure). Tony Blair forbade the establishment of new academically selective schools (grammars) with his School Standards and Framework 1998. The definition of grammars is in Section 104 of that Act.
There are currently 163 grammar schools in England and Wales, down from a peak of over 1,300 back in 1964, when the Harold Wilson Labour Government was elected.
There are some really important exceptions to the general prohibition in SSFA 1998 on state funded schools selecting pupils on basis of academic ability.
All new academies must be comprehensives, although, grammar schools which choose to convert to academies can, and invariably do, remain academically selective.
Some selective independent schools (particularly those who may be struggling to attract enough pupils who can afford their fees) are choosing to become academies but they will no longer be able to be academically selective as a condition of that state funding.
How can grammars currently expand?
As discussed, no new grammars may lawfully be created but the Secretary of State can approve existing grammars for expansion in three ways:
The law on the establishment of additional sites can be found in the following Regulations:
The Weald of Kent Grammar expansion proposals recently caused some controversy in this area of law.
The school wanted to build what they termed a school “annexe” about 10 miles from the existing site, in another town, Sevenoaks.
Michael Gove refused the proposal in 2013 on the basis that the new “annexe” was going to be co-educational rather than the “parent” school which was single sex. Perhaps he was still listening to his experts, who presumably told him it could not be a genuine expansion if a girl’s grammar school was now educating boys ten miles away!
The school tried to turn its original school co-ed to rectify the objection but those parents refused after consultation.
In autumn 2014, the school submitted a new plan for a girl’s only expansion in the Sevenoaks “annexe”.
Eventually Gove’s successor, Nicky Morgan, in October 2015 approved revised proposals as a “genuine expansion”. Apparently, the local council is investing heavily in the new school/annexe.
Nicky Morgan claimed the decision simply reaffirmed the Government view that “all good schools should be able to expand” and did not “reflect a change in the Government’s position on selective schools”.
Although there was no judicial review, so we will never know, lawyers are divided on whether the Government decision was lawful.
Factors as to whether proposal is a genuine expansion
When deciding if such an expansion is genuine (and thereby potentially circumvents the SSFA prohibition on new grammars), these sorts of questions will need to be considered:
Parental ballots to stop selective arrangements in grammars
20% of parents in a grammar school can request a formal ballot to determine whether their grammar school should keep selective admission arrangements. As most such parents are happy that their children passed the 11+ and have a coveted place , these provisions are, not surprisingly, a complete damp squib in reality. There was a vote once involving the Ripon Grammar School but it failed 2 to 1. Governing Bodies can also propose such changes of course.
Are we back to the future? The Government's latest proposals
The consultation on the Government’s “Schools that Work for Everyone” Green Paper closed on 12 December 2016. It impacts England only.
[Northern Ireland has always retained the fully selective system, and education has historically been bitterly fought over between unionists and republicans around this issue. Scotland and Wales do not have a state grammar between them.]
The Government paper highlights a significant future demand for new school places as secondary pupil numbers are projected to increase by 10% between now and 2012.
The Government says it wants to extend “opportunity to everyone, not just the privileged few”.
It proposes “selective schools providing more school places, and ensuring that they are open to children from all backgrounds”.
They say “We need to radically expand the number of good school places available for all families, not just those who can afford to move into the catchment area, go private, or pay for tuition to pass selective tests or belong to certain faiths”.
They claim “There is good evidence to suggest that grammar schools deliver high-quality education to their pupils and their pupils outperform their counterparts at non selective schools, including when the effects of selection are taken into account. However, despite demand from parents, no new grammars have been allowed since the SSFA 1998”.
The Green Paper pleads a “case for change” and states:
This Government therefore proposes new grammars, expansion of existing grammars, and allowing non selective schools to become selective.
These ideas are and will continue to be hugely controversially. It is a “flagship policy” for this Government but is bitterly opposed by the Labour Party. The claims in the Green Paper about the benefits of grammars are disputed by some expert bodies.
There is also currently an interesting shift in focus away from constantly looking at the impact of proposals on primarily Free School Meal (a de facto proxy for poverty) families to those slightly better off children who are in “Just About Managing” (JAM) families who are defined as “households whose parents may not be eligible for income-related benefits or tax credits but nevertheless earn moderate incomes and just about manage to get by”. This may impact policy in other areas of government activity.
Conclusion
At the age of 13, our Prime Minister, Theresa May, won a place at the former Holton Park Girls' Grammar School, a state grammar. During her time as a pupil, the Oxfordshire education system was re-organised and the school became a comprehensive.
To what extent are proposed important major educational reforms being influenced by our Prime Minister’s own personal, possibly nostalgic, positive experiences of her own grammar school memories?
It is too early to say if these proposals to encourage grammar schools will actually be enacted.
Satnam Virdi is Principal of SV Law, Education Solicitors, 10 Bancroft Avenue, London, N2 0AS. Satnam can be contacted on 0203 842 8042 and 07971 113073 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
